CLAIM
After 50 people were killed in the terror attacks on two mosques in New Zealand's Christchurch on Friday, 15 March, claims of 350 people in the country accepting Islam have gone viral.
A website named ‘loveforislamic.blogspot.com' carried a report titled “50 Muslims were killed on Friday in New Zealand & 350 people accepted Islam today in New Zealand” and the same claims have been shared across social media platforms Twitter and Facebook.
“...there are also some rumours that this news is fake we confirmed it from our source but still waiting for the media to cover it, as soon as possible the media started showing it many more Muslims will revert to Islam, by the will of Allah (God) Islam will be the fastest growing religion, Many people were asking proofs so, one member on our page commented and admits that she accepted Islam with more than 350 people in New Zealand, and she was also from New Zealand,” the page said.
A website called Kashmir Glacier also carried the story, but took it down later.
A set of photos and videos too went viral along with the claim.
A video has also been circulating along with the claim.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres had earlier urged the international community to "stand united against anti-Muslim hatred" and all forms of bigotry and terror.
FACT
Since there were no media reports on this, The Quint reached out to New Zealand journalists to confirm the claims. Alex van Wel, News Director at Radio New Zealand’s Christchurch office, confirmed that the claims made in the blog was “fake”, adding that “there is no record of this having happened at all after the attack.”
That’s not all. The images shared on social media along with the claim are also false. The images circulated have existed on the internet before the attack took place.
Meanwhile, the video circulated was originally posted on YouTube in 2008 and supposedly shows “Germans accepting Islam”, as claimed in the caption.
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